Inflation rate remains unchanged at 0.61% Wholesale Price Index for all commodities at 232.2

Print this page Posted on : 05-29-2009 by recycleinme.com

New Delhi, May 28

The annual wholesale inflation rate remained unchanged at 0.61 per cent for the week ended May 16. That makes it the eleventh consecutive week in which the year-on-year increase in the official wholesale price index (WPI) has been contained below one per cent.

Primary articles dearer

While inflation in general has eased considerably, prices of primary articles (particularly food items), however, continue to show a disconcerting rise. For the latest recorded week, the annual increase in the index for primary articles stood at 6.22 per cent, while amounting to 8.27 per cent for food article, 12.80 per cent for foodgrains, 8.51 per cent for fruits & vegetables, and 6.41 per cent for milk.

On the other hand, the year-on-year inflation rates were provisionally estimated at minus 6.68 per cent and 1.09 per cent for the 'fuel, power, light & lubricants' and 'manufactured products' groups, respectively. These two groups have respective weights of 14.23 and 63.75 per cent in the all-commodities WPI, as opposed to 22.02 per cent for primary articles.

But again, even within manufactured products, 'food products' have registered an annual inflation rate of 13.57 per cent for the week under review, with sugar prices correspondingly going up by 29.97 per cent.

In other words, the farm sector is the sole reason for inflation not turning negative as yet. All eyes would be now on the south-west monsoon, on whose performance the prospects of a bumper kharif crop depend.

Source : Business Line